Any RC aeroplane flyers in here?

Always fancied having a go at RC model plane flying but never been brave enough or rather willing enough to watch a substantial amount of money go crashing into the ground.

But sod it, Christmas is coming up so why not. As much as I'd love a full on nitro powered thing I know that would be really stupid so I'm thinking an electric ARTF or RTF set-up. I'd want one that would be suitable for outdoor flight, don't really know of any indoor venues large enough to try anything otherwise. Any advice?

I got a Hobbyzone Super Cub as my first and last RC plane. I did ok with it until I got it stuck in a tree. It spent two weeks up there and when I got it down it was a write off. None of that is the planes fault though! As a starter it was very very good. Simple, easy to fly with plenty of spares. I'm now flying a helicopter however....

Super Cub or some such thing will be fine. Been a while since I had one but the amusing 'anti crash technology' only worked from about 100 feet up. Most of my accidents were a bit lower than that

Loads of foam ARTF stuff out now. Most of it very light so won't go well in a strong wind. Defo worth having a play on a sim first if you can because the reversed controls when you're flying towards yourself take a bit of getting used too.

Depending where you are, might be worth a stroll along to a local club. Most (not all) are great at helping out/offering advice etc. Learning on your own is fine but you'll break loads of stuff. Trust me on this Also if you are flying on your own, pick somewhere without power lines/houses/roads too close. You'll be surprised how much this stuff 'gets in the way'.

I went from full size gliders to IC planes and back to slope soaring with some nice fast moulded ships and some big 'uns as well. Prefer to stand on a big hill than in a field. If you buy something like a multiplex EasyGlider with a fan up front, you can use it for both. That' s a great beginners model but a bit bigger than a supercup.

Two downsides of DIY: you'll crash a lot which gets expensive and you may injure someone else which is unforgivable. Make sure you join the BMFA for 3rd party insurance and please, please fly with someone else who can fly.

You learn more quickly, it'll cost less in damaged/replacement models and there's a lot less chance of flying into some poor innocent walking past. There's plenty of nasty material on the net showing what models do to people and there have been a few fatalities in the UK when walkers 'get in the way'.

Find a local club and join it. I think I used to pay about 30ish per year including membership. The club had a decent field and they taught me well and saved me a small fortune (by being on a buddy box).

Once you've got started and have a tx, buy a sim for the PC and hook it up (there are free sims available too).

I had some lovely planes and some nice 2 and 4 stroke engines. My favourites were the acrowot, cougar and panic. If I was to get back into it, I'd probably go electric (except maybe on my half built typhoon that I need to finish, that's gonna need a .90 sizes 4 stroke if only for the sound)

Edit - I'd advise against self teaching. Better off in a club. Safety is very important but it's part of the fun hearing the chaps behind shouting "mayday, mayday, eject, eject" just before you try and bury a few hundred worth of gear. When they've stopped laughing, they'll always come help you find it

Look to join the localish club as the help and tuition is invaluable also join the Bmfa for insurance.
The club will have instructors who will train you using a buddy lead ( which is a lead which connects yout transmitter to the instrutor and when you lose it , and you will they can save your model)

Speak to your local club and visit them and they will steer you in the right direction ref what model to buy and more importantely what radio to gear to BUY

second the club approach (esp. the buddy lead setup) - having an old hand around to 'fix' things you get wrong is damn handy.

join bmfa, the £1mil insurance is well worth having

my dad flies models, and has been for absolutely yonks - and won't do anything but electric these days, despite having a load of I/C engines collected over the course of a few decades. I/C are great, but messy, and there's a learning curve to getting them running nicely. By comparison, electric power is just plug and go, no mess, no fuss.

the mini extra looks like something for when you get a bit of practice behind you, I'd go for something like the super cub. talk to some guys at a local club for recommendations.

Contrary to all the advice above, learning to fly by yourself doesn't have to be expensive or dangerous. My first plane was one of these: http://www.modellbauuk.com/mini-aeronca-champ-mode-2-rtf-2544-p.asp and whilst it's now held together mostly by sticky tape it still flies just fine - that's after some pretty hard crashes. Also light enough not to do too much harm when it hits anything - though you should still fly well away from other people. The danger and expense generally comes from flying bigger, heavier, more expensive planes. I'd very much recommend getting something made from foam rather than a more traditional build as when you do crash it you just stick it back together again.

Admittedly that won't cope with much wind, but then as a beginner you shouldn't be flying when there's too much for that anyway.

I do agree with advice about having a go on a sim first though - and I suppose I should mention that I started with helis (proper 4 channel single rotor ones which you have to continuously fly rather than hovering when you let go of the controls) and was reasonably competent at those before I got a plane.

That's far from harmless in the right place at the right speed. You seem to have read the great advice and decided to ignore it or adopt it partially.

The only harmless approach is a flight sim. But you are still better off leaving that until you know what tx you will buy so you can use that.

you're being advised to join a club for good reason.

Save yourself the time and money though and donate that £80 to charity as you are wasting it. You will crash. Spend £30 less and get an indoor heli if you must scratch the itch while waiting to find a club etc

Im sure it's a lovely hobby but unfortunately my only experience of this was planes being flown on a Sunday morning over my house.
My only lie-in ruined by those bloody droning engines.
If I had a shotgun at the time I would gladly shoot them out of the sky from my velux window

Last week i removed my plane from the loft where its been for 7 years, I bought it, built it, joined the club and learned the basics, got side tracked, put it in loft and thats where it stayed till now.

Have now got everything required to get flying again except fuel, which is a good thing as i want to fly this now but i know its a bad idea so going to join the local club again with all the bearded old men.

Mines an Arising star with a Gp42 engine. Id prefer a lighter electric model now though so i can fly in more places.

Usually you'll want something a bit bigger, a bit more stable and flies more slowly. The Extra is an aerobatic low winger. You want a high wing trainer .40 size if I.C. or equivalent if leccy.

Bigger means more stable (softer so small control inputs aren't punished), slower (more time to respond) and easier to see in the air (you will get disoriented). Low wingers are fine for your second model when you can fly. They are more aerobatic and more responsive, they often don't like plodding around and can tip stall viciously if you take liberties (I.e. Fly slowly enough to react when a novice).

I've never used a model with autopilot but knowing how badly things can go wrong and how quickly, I'd be more inclined to have a real and competent pilot on a buddy lead than rely on something like this. And, even a small foamy can do a lot of damage if it hits you in the face at 30mph. You'll also want someone to check over your build/assembly before you fly. Even really handy people make silly mistakes and this could cost you a model before the autopilot has a chance to influence events.

My suggestion is all but. I've hit myself with it at full chat - it can't actually manage the "right speed" to do any major harm, and is so light that it just doesn't have that much energy. You'll do more harm with a football. I get that you shouldn't be complacent, hence my advice to find somewhere away from other people (I wince when I think about where I flew even that when I first had it).

I do agree that what the OP is looking at is almost certainly too much for a beginner (even with the auto-pilot), but that doesn't mean you can't fly without joining a club.

even a small foamy can do a lot of damage if it hits you in the face at 30mph. You'll also want someone to check over your build/assembly before you fly

Only if your plane will do 30mph, and no need to check the build when you're flying something which comes ready to fly out of the box. It's no longer compulsory to go through the self-build process to get flying - even my more advanced foamies are largely just a case of bolting the wings on, something which is pretty hard to get wrong.

My suggestion is all but. I've hit myself with it at full chat - it can't actually manage the "right speed" to do any major harm, and is so light that it just doesn't have that much energy. You'll do more harm with a football. I get that you shouldn't be complacent, hence my advice to find somewhere away from other people (I wince when I think about where I flew even that when I first had it).

I do agree that what the OP is looking at is almost certainly too much for a beginner (even with the auto-pilot), but that doesn't mean you can't fly without joining a club.

Which is my intent. Very keen to join a club if I get into it but I'm lucky that I have vast areas to fly whereby the nearest building or property is miles away and there will certainly be nobody around to collide into, other than myself. But yes, I can see that the model I suggested is probably too responsive for a complete novice.

I wanted to get into RC as a kid but it was too much £££ so I flew control line. A few years ago, I found myself in the model shop a bit pissed up. His till went kerching, my wallet was lighter and I had a full set of kit. I built it (I'd been building control line and free flight for years), decided I didn't want to join a club and tried to fly it.

I crashed it within 30 seconds, picked up the bits and took them home. Repaired it, joined a club and learned to fly (A, B and C certs). Before my first flight the build/assembly was checked over and there were errors. Remember, I'd been flying C.L. and free flight for years.

@fervouredimage. Sounds like you're determined so do what you want, it's your money. Just make sure you only hurt you and your pocket.

Petrol powered, self build 50mph plane - I'm not sure of the relevance to recommending teaching yourself with a light, slow electric ready to fly. You do realise that you can now buy planes which fly out of the box, are easy and cheap to repair when you crash (if you damage them at all) and not that hard to fly? I gave a link to one up there - as I said mine is now held together by sticky tape, but I've not actually spent a penny on repairs apart from the cost of the tape. I googled your first plane, and that is a world apart from what I'm suggesting - if the OP has loads of space away from other people, then I don't see the problem with just going for it.

The plane you suggested aracer actually looks about right. Exactly what I was looking for. Watching a view flight vids on Youtube it seems ideal. Seems to have very slow stable movement which is ideal plus at £55 isn't going to break the bank.

The plane you suggested aracer actually looks about right. Exactly what I was looking for. Watching a view flight vids on Youtube it seems ideal. Seems to have very slow stable movement which is ideal plus at £55 isn't going to break the bank.

Just don't try flying it in much wind. It will actually handle quite a bit, but get's a lot harder to fly - and isn't as good as something bigger and heavier. But as I commented above if there's too much wind for that you shouldn't be flying anything anyway.

fervouredimage - Member
That's far from harmless in the right place at the right speed. You seem to have read the great advice and decided to ignore it or adopt it partially.
Yes, because unlike you, I know where I live and what I have available to me in terms of places to fly.

I used to fly RC stuff 35 years ago, got into gliders more as I enjoyed the challenge of finding lift and ridge soaring where you find a hill to fly off. Interesting to see all this license and club stuff in my day you just turned up somewhere and had a go, I was taught by an experience pilot though.

What I'd say is I was recently given a small indoor helicopter as a birthday present (Chinook) which is actually great fun and might be a good cheap introduction to see if you like it. The controller concept is similar so you'd get an idea for not many £'s, it's relatively easy to fly, some model are much more tricky.

@boblo - love the Chipmunks, got to fly real one at old RAF training school at Hamble on the South coast.

Boblo - I had that chipmunk for a short while with an OS 90 in it. It flew very well until I had a problem with interference and it went in hard.

Op. Pis staking to one side for a minute, my club tutor had ninja like reflexes and saved me hundreds during the early days.
I wouldn't bother with your suggested craft as the stabilisation electronics probably aren't that good and it'll need very calm day to fly on as it's a small light plane. Believe it or not it's easier to fly with a bit of a breeze..

my club tutor had ninja like reflexes and saved me hundreds during the early days.

Can I point out again that with my suggestion not having lightning reflexes won't cost you hundreds (and also that it's not really an issue where you're stood, unless you're bothered by 50g of foam hitting you at 10mph).

Actually the indoor heli suggestion is a good idea - some really good ones now which are very robust (I have spent quite a bit on new parts for my somewhat older ones) yet will teach you a lot. One important thing is that I learnt to always kill the throttle as soon as anything started to go wrong, which is also generally good with planes - maybe not always the best thing to do, but it means there's no spinning prop when it hits something (windmilling maybe, but no energy behind that).

I wouldn't bother with your suggested craft as the stabilisation electronics probably aren't that good

I have a couple of indoor helis. I started out with one a few years ago that wasn't much more than a kiddies toy but I still enjoyed it so purchased a 4ch single blade heli. That took some learning but after a few crashes got the hang of it. It still works fine now but my wife was getting upset at the amount of ornaments being taken out.

I was always under the impression that planes were more difficult to master and control hence never took the plunge?

In which case you're exactly where I was when I got a plane. I'd suggest that if anything flying a plane is easier (though different) provided you're comfortable nose in (and that your heli wasn't one of the self-stabilising ones which flies hands off - though even if it was, the Champ will fly hands off so it's not more difficult).

In which case you're exactly where I was when I got a plane. I'd suggest that if anything flying a plane is easier (though different) provided you're comfortable nose in (and that your heli wasn't one of the self-stabilising ones which flies hands off - though even if it was, the Champ will fly hands off so it's not more difficult).

The single blade heli I had wasn't self-stabilising. I found that out the hard way. A different animal but I'm hoping that nose in piloting should come fairly easily from 10 years of racing RC cars. I think my brain is now naturally in tune with switching left and right etc.